It's the last day of 2010- have you made any new year's goals yet?
After Christmas I seem to want to purge everything- the mess in my house, the random happy meal toys, Christmas decor that is lying around. It's also a good time to clean up my computer.

For those of you that have been working on any Project 365- well, it is day 364! Hope this little promo can help you complete it!

The Picasa software provides a simple way to view, edit, and organize
the photos on your computer. As you get started, there are two things
you should always remember:

Picasa does not store the photos on your computer.
When you open Picasa, it simply looks at the folders on your computer
and displays the photos it finds. It displays the file types that you
tell it to find, in the folders that you tell it to search.

Your original photos are always preserved.
When using editing tools in Picasa, your original files are never
touched. The photo edits you make are only viewable in Picasa until you
decide to save your changes. Even then, Picasa creates a new version of
the photo with your edits applied, leaving the original file totally
preserved.

Yes, it is- I finally got a Christmas card out this year! Better late than never!
December is always a whirlwind. I am always so busy with everyone else's cards, that I can never seem to find time for my own families.

My dear Grandma died the beginning of the month- she was 91 and ready to go.

It is impossible to get my boys looking decent, Grandma made it possible this year. After the funeral, on our way home in the freezing Utah weather, we pulled off the side of the highway, stuck the boys in front of a bright blue shed near the Great Salt Lake- and snapped a picture.

I took pieces of this 4x8 Card, designed by Rhonna Farrer at House of 3. Hand wrote the boys names on the bamboo - done. Bright bold colors pop on metallic silver halide photo paper-
they turned out pretty good for "last minute". Love you Grandma!

We had a great Christmas, and hope you did too. It really isn't about what you get- but what you give. Every year, we participate in some sort of service project with our boys, whether it be a canned food drive, sub for Santa, feeding the homeless, or just being kind- we try. Those are the Christmas' I remember most.

Traditions are important to me. We have many family traditions that I look forward to and try to maintain!
When I was little, my parents couldn't afford to take us skiing. So, when the good snow fell- we would ski behind the car. I wish I had a photo of us back then.

Keeping up with Tradition.

We try and visit as many holiday lights as we can!

Christmas Eve, we are together with family for a big dinner and gift exchange.

Sometimes it's just madness.

Christmas morning we have the kids line up on the top of the stairs in order of age (so the littlest doesn't get trampled) to go downstairs and see if Santa came. We take turns opening gifts - and try and make it last longer!

December 20, 2010

As you know, we are "picky" about our prints. I prefer the look, feel & longevity of my silver halide photo paper, but this post is specifically about our books.
Sure, we can print a photo book, but do we have the equipment to print the BEST photo book at a reasonable price? Nope, we don't.

Printing a photo book is a BIG process.

First, your layouts have to be set up in the correct PDF format (our software does this for us). Otherwise, you will have one page upside down, facing the wrong way, etc. etc.

Then, there is the printing.

No one photo book company is the same as the other. 99.9% outsource their photo books.
High quality duplexing printers cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The paper must be cut in stacks with a cutter, and then bound. Not to mention what it takes to produce a custom cover.

We could fulfill not so great photo books, but again, we are Persnickety. We feel like the photo books we offer from our outlab are the best quality at the lowest price. Your Persnickety books are printed on an HP Indigo Press machine, 110# archival paper, and "perfect bound" (glue + stitched). You are also able to completely customize your own cover. The custom cover photo books can also include up to 200 pages.

Each year for Christmas, it is now expected that I create a photo book for each Grandparent. I love that they arrive packaged in their own silver embossed box, topped with tissue paper. Fancy Shmancy!
Here are the two 10x10 photo books that the G-ma's will get this Saturday. Each book flowed well thanks to Biograffiti's ABC Album and Cinzia Loosemores Grateful Heart 12x12 Album. No need to resize a 12x12 to print a 10x10. Also, if you are wondering, here is a quick tutorial on how to create a book in our software.

I wanted to show you how photo books can vary from one company to another.
I printed my 10x10 at our lab and another 8x8 at Shutterfly. Exact same files. I like that our covers wrap all the way around.
Notice the color difference. Now, even though I am a print freak- I do know that every monitor and print will vary, but it shouldn't be this different.

The Shutterfly book is over saturated. (shutterfly on top) When this happens, the colors are brighter than normal- but so are the skin tones. The images will start to look blotchy, not smooth. This ABC Album is intended to be muted - not so bright. My Persnickety book is nearly spot on with color.

Notice on the top book- the leaves and her face are more "orange".

I really like how the colors turned out with my Persnickety books. I can't wait until Christmas morning to see how excited my Mom & Mom-in-law are when they open them! For my other book on the left- I used Cinzia Loosemores Grateful Heart 12x12 album and because it came layered, I was able to change it up some to fit a more general 2010 theme.

* * * * *

Ok- so it takes a LONG TIME to make a photo book, right? Maybe you want a copy for yourself, but you don't want to pay oodles of dollars for copies. Never Fear-
You can still print any size with those same 12x12 files! Your images are already uploaded into your Persnickety account, so it's easy.

I went next door to our craft store and bought this 6x6 Mini Album from American Crafts. $5

Printed 20 6x6 pages of my photo book- again, no need to resize or change a thing as long as you are printing the same aspect ratio. I love my silver halide prints. $14.22

And now I can enjoy the countless hours it took to create photo books for the G-ma's, in my own little version!

December 19, 2010

If you are still needing a great idea for a custom Christmas goody- Shabby Miss Jenn Designs has the solution.
For my elementary school aged boys I used this Free SMJ Jumbo Candy Bar wrapper template. It prints out on an 8.5x11 sheet- and can really be used for anything! My 3rd grader, Noah's teacher loves M&M's, so we wrapped it around a big bag, and it worked out great!

The boys tried to write their name as best they could with my bamboo tablet.
We slipped in a little Target Gift Card (because we all know that school teachers are underpaid!)
and they both loved them.
Thanks SMJ!

This set includes January through December of 2011 png toppers and jpg bottoms. Each page is 8.5x11. You can add your own events, holidays, birthdays and anniversaries to make this calendar set your own.

At Persnickety Prints, we can print your calendar "topper" within our software program using our standard bottoms -OR- you can merge these top and bottoms in your software program and order Persnickety premium fuji paper as one top bound 12x18 wall calendar!

December 11, 2010

We have been busy working on your orders- which by the way- are just amazing and make our job so much fun! How great is it to see first hand all of your talent & creativity! As always, we hope you are completely happy with them.

We will post a few Holiday freebies over the next few weeks to say "thank you" for being so wonderful and spreading the Persnickety love. We wouldn't be here without you.